The present invention relates to a tool for classifying and installing patches in distributed computerized software systems. Specifically, when a patch is designed, it may be automatically installed on a user's terminal if it is classified as not having a direct impact on the user's terminal and does not relate to an area of the user's terminal which is being used by the user.
Currently, many users do not install patches on their computer terminals because of their unknown impact on the terminals. Consequently, there are user terminals with varying levels of patches installed. The varying levels of installed patches make it difficult to determine the correct patch for a specific terminal when a specific error is reported. It is very costly and time-consuming to try to make sure that there is consistency amongst users' terminals by ensuring that they have the same level of installed patches.
Automated patch installation is an available, useful technique to help maintain computer networks. However, current systems which automatically install patches suffer from several drawbacks. First, they might be fully automated, in which case an operator has no discretion regarding how or when to deploy them on his terminal. This may result in down time on a system at an undesirable time for the user. Alternatively, patches might be installed only after receiving an operator's command to install, which can be arbitrarily withheld from the system and frustrate the installation process. This may lead to unforeseen performance problems. For example, if certain patches are designed under an assumption that a prior patch was installed, when in fact the prior patch was not installed, a system error may result.
SAP's Note Assistant is available for automatically installing patches on users' terminals is the SAP Note Assistant. SAP Notes provides instructions on how to remove known errors from SAP Systems. They include a description of the symptoms, the cause of the error, and the SAP Release and Support Package level in which the error occurs. SAP Note Assistant allows you to load SAP Notes into your system and to automatically implement the corrections. SAP Note Assistant determines the dependencies of different Notes. However, a Note which corrects a reported error can require many other Notes to be installed before it may be installed. This may cause significant system downtime.